Nilka Hendricks
Nilka Hendricks was a contestant on Season 7 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 7th place. Personality Nilka was usually quiet and calm, and started as one of the strongest chefs of the season. When angered, she could break down and yell, but she had a lot of passion for cooking, and confidence in her abilities. Season 7 Episode 1 When the chefs entered Hell's Kitchen, they were greeted by press reporters and photographers, and Nilka already felt like a celebrity. During the Signature Dish Challenge, she was the last person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Andrew. When she introduced herself, she said she became a chef because of her passion, and that she wanted to show her three kids that they had to go for the things they wanted in life. After, she served her sweet and spicy chicken wings, but they were not well received as they were too hot for Ramsay. She admitted that she used half a bottle of Tabasco, Ramsay drank a glass of water, spat it out, she apologized, and he declared it would blow her asshole. Neither her or Andrew scored a point. The red team lost the challenge 3-4, and they were eventually punished by cooking breakfast in bed for the blue team the next morning. Back in the dorms, all the women were focused on studying the menu for the opening night while being confident about it. During dinner service, Nilka served Caesar salads tableside. Because very little food was served, she constantly had to apologize to the customers for the long wait by telling them to be patient, and after three of her teammates were kicked out, she was reintegrated in the kitchen and assigned on the meat station with Siobhan. After a fourth teammate was kicked out, the red team merged with the blue team to serve all the remaining customers. On the last tickets, she worked very closely with Ed, who gave her clear instructions, and the service was completed. The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people. While going back to the dorms, Nilka was pissed that they lost and had to put two people on the chopping block. During deliberation, she considered Maria for being a little bit frazzled, annoying the latter. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 2 The next morning, at 5 am, the chefs were awaken by an alarm clock amplified all over the dorms by Sous Chefs Scott and Andi, and Nilka thanked God that she was wearing a bra at that moment. During the Egg Relay Challenge, she was paired with Maria, and they were the first pair to compete for the red team. They gave a perfect performance of four out of four, and later, she was insulted when Siobhan accused the whole team of putting pressure on her to cook her eggs. The red team lost the challenge 10-11, and they were punished by taking a delivery of a giant tuna, cutting it, cleaning it, and gutting it for the next service. While going back to the dorms, Nilka was pissed that they lost to eggs, and told that even though Autumn convinced Siobhan to accept help, the latter had to push her away and follow the instructions. On the patio, she told Autumn that Siobhan threw her under the bus completely. When the tuna arrived, she was impressed as she never saw a fish that big before, and the next day, during prep, she told Siobhan exactly what to do, much to the latter's annoyance. During dinner service, Nilka was on the garnish station. At one point, she was pissed when Siobhan was arguing with Ramsay, and angrily told that they did not have time for that as they lost three times in a row already. Later, despite her teammates sending their entrées to the pass, she was not ready yet with her garnishes, and she gave a minute and a half, much to Ramsay's frustration. She declared that she had the crab mash, but Ramsay did not want to hear it, and stated that he would not wait and shout for everything. She acknowledged that she was lost, and Holli asked her for a time while acknowledging that she froze and was not talking. After that, Ramsay exposed a clear lack of communication between her, Jamie, and Holli, and asked them to get it together. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told Nilka that she was lost on garnish, which she agreed, both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate one person each. During deliberation, she was considered by Jamie, which she felt okay with as she acknowledged her mistakes. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 3 Back in the dorms, Nilka tried to calm Jason down as he was having a meltdown, while stating that he just went out of control. The next morning, the chefs went to the dining room, where Ramsay introduced the Marching Band Lunch Service Challenge, while revealing they would be serving the marching band of the University of Southern California. During prep, she was motivated to win after losing all the challenges since the beginning, by saying that they had to stay focused, synchronized, and just do it. During the challenge, she was not seen much, except at one point when she aggressively asked Jamie for the burgers. The red team won the challenge, and celebrated by cheering and hugging each other. They were rewarded with a day at the Malibu Beach Inn, being driven there in vintage cars, and a soccer match against Ramsay and his own family. Back in the dorms, while getting ready, Nilka was asked if she knew what milf meant by Fran. After the latter revealed its meaning, she called her stupid. During dinner service, Nilka was on the appetizer station with Maria. After the latter sent her second unacceptable risotto, she acknowledged that Maria was lacking self-confidence. So, she decided to help her, and because of her help, Maria's third attempt was accepted. Later, after a beef was sent back for being overcooked, she told that Fran fucked the team up as she did not know her temperatures and everything was sent back, and added that she let her nerves get to her. After that, she and Maria told Autumn to leave Fran alone because she was insisting to see the latter's injury, and after Fran left to see a medic, she and Maria took over the meat station for a quick moment. The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people. While going back to the dorms, Nilka was pissed to have lost again, stating that it sucked, and during deliberation, she declared Fran as the obvious first nominee, but was stuck on the second person. Nilka was not nominated for elimination, and while being dismissed, she told the blue team must watch out as all the red team's dead weight was gone. Episode 4 The next morning, the chefs went downstairs, where Ramsay introduced the Craps Challenge. Nilka was the second person to roll the die for the red team, landed on S, and chose shallots. During the cooking, when she was about to slice the duck, Autumn interfered with her job by telling her how to do it and wanting to do it herself. She was annoyed, considered Autumn a control freak, and reminded that they all had knife skills. During the judging, she described the red team's dish. The red team lost the challenge, and they were punished by cleaning the front entrance of the restaurant, which included the floor, the carpet, and the mirrors, as well as prepping both kitchens for the next service. Nilka apologized to her teammates for not properly cooking the duck, and stated that she hated losing, while wanting to die. During the punishment, she told that sweat was pouring out of her face, and when Jean-Philippe did his quality control with his white glove, she was told that there was still dust on some of them, and that she was sweating a lot, which she acknowledged by saying that she was working hard. During dinner service, Nilka was on the meat station. When she started to work on her entrées, she was determined to have all her temperatures perfect as she knew there was a lot of pressure on meat. She was motivated by Autumn, and when she sent her beef to the pass, it was praised for being perfectly cooked, which made her very proud of herself. Moments later, she was amused when Autumn was being yelled at, mockingly calling her a princess, and after, she sent perfectly cooked Wellingtons to the chefs table, while being very proud of herself as she did not work a lot with Wellingtons before. Because of her strong performance, entrées were flying out of the red kitchen at a good pace, and after the service was completed, she was very proud and felt that they kicked butts all over the world. Both teams were named joint-winners, but Nilka was singled out by Ramsay, who said that she did a good job and cooked all the meat to perfection despite not having a lot of experience in fine dining. She was named "Best of the Best" for the red team, and was asked to nominate one of her teammates for elimination. While going back to the dorms, she told that she did not expect that request from Ramsay, but that she would take that responsibility. On the patio, she immediately targeted Autumn for being yelled at a lot on fish, despite the latter disagreeing. Later, she declared that she was determined to make her own decision by herself, while not letting anybody make her go against her instinct. Nilka named Autumn as her nominee for elimination, and said goodbye to the latter, who was transferred to the blue team, while welcoming Scott as a new teammate. Episode 5 Back in the dorms, Nilka was happy to welcome Scott in her team, and when he convinced that they would all work as a team and kill it, both of them gave each other a fist pump. The next morning, the chefs were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Andi, who gave them butchering outfits to wear for the Pork Challenge. During the first part, Nilka was the first person from the red team to grab her pig. She wanted to grab the one with the bacon collar, but struggled a lot as it was really fast, but eventually, she grabbed the one with the blood sausage collar. When Fran grabbed prunes, she was not convinced it would work as it did not sound appetizing. During the second part, she was paired with Fran, and during the cooking, she was not confident about the dish as neither of them has worked with blood sausages before. When she took them out of the oven, they were busted, which dismayed her, and Scott told her that she had to click them before baking them. When everybody plated their dishes, only she and Fran were not confident in theirs. Nilka and Fran were the first pair from the red team to have their dish judged, and she presented their blood sausage with a prune purée, but Ramsay noticed that she was not looking very happy from the start, and she revealed that she was not happy with the plate. When Ramsay tasted the dish, he was disgusted, spat it out, and asked who had that terrible idea of mixing prunes with blood sausage to the red team. She was waiting for Scott to take responsibility as he had the idea, but he never spoke. Moments later, she stated that she would have rather served an empty plate, and Ramsay called the dish a fucking disaster. She and Fran lost the round to Benjamin and Ed. The red team lost the challenge 1-2, and they were punished by cleaning the pig pen outside and giving the pigs a bath, while wearing farming clothes. While going back to the dorms, Nilka told Fran how mad and embarrassed she was about serving the dish they served, and during the punishment, everybody struggled to wash the pigs as all of them were excited and constantly moving around. The next day, during prep, she already fried an entire tray of chicken, much to Ramsay's dismay. He schooled the red team by saying they were a fine dining restaurant and not a fast food chain, and said that they were fucking themselves before the service even started. She was annoyed at Ramsay's yelling over chicken, declared that she could not take it, Ramsay told her that she was soaking like a teenager, but she reassured him that she was good. During the Barbecue themed dinner service, Nilka was on the dessert station during the first seating, and a waitress during the second. At one point, Fran tried to communicate with her, but she did not hear the first time, and on the second, she aggressively told that the crab was ready, leading to an argument between the two of them where she told Fran that she did not hear her. She was angry as she did not like to be talked to like that, and the argument erupted between everybody. When the customers entered for the second seating, she acknowledged that being a waitress was not an easy job as there was too much shit to do at once. Moments later, she was already having fun with a table of customers when one of them told her they were having more fun than she had, which she agreed. The red team lost the service, and Fran was named "Best of the Worst". Nilka was Fran's second nominee for elimination, with Maria being the first, but she was furious about that decision, and said to Fran to not just come up with that decision on-the-spot and surprise her. They were called down with Scott, but she survived elimination as she was immediately sent back in line for not having a service as bad as the two others. While being dismissed, she hoped that Fran felt like a jackass and added that she did not want to work with her anymore. Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 15 Trivia *She is the last contestant of that season to be eliminated before the black jackets were given. *She is the fifth contestant to be eliminated during dinner service, following Josh (Season 3), J, Lacey (both from Season 5), and Louie (Season 6). She is also the first contestant from the red team to be so. *She is the first contestant ever who begged Ramsay to be kept in the competition after her elimination was officially announced. *Along with Salvatore, she is the sixth contestant who received a "Best of the Worst" nomination without making it to the black jackets, following Chris (Season 1), Melissa (Season 3), Louross (Season 4), LA (Season 5), and Sabrina (Season 6). Quotes *"You all can kiss my fucking ass." *(After being eliminated) "NO CHEF! DON'T SAY THAT PLEASE!" Category:Chef Category:Season 7